Have you ever played the Cthulhu PnP game? The single greatest campaign I ever ran ("At Your Door") ended with every single player dying. Some didn't even make it to the end (to die) - they went insane and needed to be replaced. It's been years (decades!) but I still can't get my mind around Cthulhu and campaign being mixed together.

They need to up their game on scenarios with these expansions. Two is just not enough. I would prefer a more randomized "dungeon crawl" style scenario that would help alleviate this game's biggest shortcoming.

I'm not digging the scarce news of new scenarios too. So far, within the six months after the game's release, they've released or announced:

- Four scenarios with the base game.- One scenario that requires the 1st Edition base tiles/monsters (or buying the re-release box)- One scenario that requires the 1st Edition expansions tiles/monsters (or buying the re-release box)- One scenario compatible with the 2nd Edition base game (possibly for additional cost)- Two scenarios requiring the just-announced 2nd Edition expansion

Considering each scenario doesn't have a ton of replayability, that's kind of crummy. Especially when their cost to release new scenarios is entirely on the design and writing side, which would likely be able to be done entirely in-house. Getting one new scenario out each month shouldn't be impossible. This slow drip release is kind of lackluster.

I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two ShedsA blog. I has one.

They've put themselves in an awkward position, IMHO and possibly fractured the base significantly and quickly. By releasing all these add on packs/expansions you now have people with copies of the base 2nd edition game and any number of 1st and 2nd edition expansions. If you start building module content, how do you do so in a way that provides value for the people that purchased the base game and $50-100 worth of expansion materials in the last 6 months?

I would fear that unless they do release some type of "dungeon crawl" scenario, this is going to end up a mess.

Release a mod kit and let the fans create their own stories (even if it means I have to fight the Muff Monster and use a magic dildo to solve a few scenarios). I doubt they're making much off DLC. They're first and foremost a board game company, so stick to that as the primary income resource for the game and let the community Elder Scrolls the hell out of this.

Smoove_B wrote:They've put themselves in an awkward position, IMHO and possibly fractured the base significantly and quickly. By releasing all these add on packs/expansions you now have people with copies of the base 2nd edition game and any number of 1st and 2nd edition expansions. If you start building module content, how do you do so in a way that provides value for the people that purchased the base game and $50-100 worth of expansion materials in the last 6 months?

I would fear that unless they do release some type of "dungeon crawl" scenario, this is going to end up a mess.

I think they'll be OK and appeal to most if they were to:

1. Release "basic" DLC. New scenarios that work with just the Core set, but have greater permutations based on the expansions you own. Seemingly what the winter DLC will be.2. Release scenarios that tie in with physical purchases, like they've done with the "Figure and Tile" collections and the newly announced "Expansion".

So long as they don't give up on occasionally releasing "basic" DLC, eventually put out:

3. "Deluxe" DLC that requires previous physical purchases. Yes, the Core set owners can't use it, but invested players will get to enjoy deeper scenarios designed around the expanded content they've purchased.

But I'm very interested in a Lovecraft-crawl creator. Have investigators enter a mansion, racing to defeat a monster or achieve some goal and then some dark portal opens, taking them to another area to do the same, repeat until some final confrontation based on how large/long an adventure you selected at the start.

I think for now I'm just going to play with the core 2nd edition materials. After we have a few scenarios down or we somehow amazingly finish all the base scenarios, I can then go back and mix in the expansion / 1st edition material and re-play them with added variety. I said it in the Descent 2nd edition thread, but I actually think mixing in every single expansion and add on made the game extremely difficult for casual players (i.e. us). I'm afraid the exact same thing is going to happen with the MoM material. While I know they want to encourage mixing, the balance just felt really off in Descent 2.0 with the app (and the regular game, quite frankly before the app).

I don't think that's the case with Mansions of Madness, but I do agree that Descent becomes significantly more difficult with some of the expansion monsters tossed in.

The MoM expansions give you a wider range of items to acquire and tiles to explore, so I feel it's well worth it to play with them added if you have them. The monsters aren't that much harder than those found in the base set, I've found.

Played through the tutorial scenario and enjoyed it tremendously....right up until we had to solve the code puzzle at the end. Seriously, screw that nonsense. It actually took me right the hell out of the experience. I know it was a big part of the 1st edition and the app handles it in a much easier way, but it's not fun. There were two other puzzles in the adventure that were easier to solve, but the code took us like 18 attempts, which is nonsense. I'm perfectly happy chucking dice and dealing with results, thanks. Regardless, overall I think I actually I like it more than playing Descent with the app as this feels really close to a PnP role-playing experience. There's tons of flavor and theme with random events and things to resolve. Descent with the app is very much a dungeon crawl focused on combat. Combat wasn't nearly as much of a focus, at least in the tutorial scenario. I had all the investigators painted and my buddy supplied all the painted monsters. No problems with the app either - everything worked flawlessly. I'm liking how Horror and Health are handled and never really knowing exactly what's going to happen as you randomly select cards adds to the theme. I'm really curious to see how the intro scenario would play with a second attempt (how random it is) and whether or not adding the expansions changes things significantly.

I haven't run into a code puzzle yet, but I've been worried about those in particular since seeing the instructions about them in the rules. The logic involved and potential number of iterations you might have to run seemed like it might be something I wouldn't dig. Now I'm more worried about them.

I can't imagine, even at my most inebriated, hearing a bouncer offering me an hour with a stripper for only $1,400 and thinking That sounds like a reasonable idea.-Two ShedsA blog. I has one.

The code breaking puzzle is the only one I really disliked. I wasn't a fan of the puzzles in the 1st edition either, so at least it's an improvement if they were going to insist on keeping them in the game.

It was a code using all 5 potential symbol spaces, with all 5 tiles (I'm not sure if the tiles used ever changes or just the number needed). After playing the game for 3+ hours, it really was a frustrating way to end the game. I'd absolutely love for them to change the puzzle element via a toggle option and would simply prefer making an appropriate check that can be modified in the usual ways. Right before the ridiculous puzzle we had to make a check that allowed us to convert the Investigation icons on the dice into successes by using evidence we'd acquired through exploration. Not only was it thematic (making the check) but information our investigator had could help them pass. The puzzle? Other than getting more turns based on investigator skill, it was up to us to figure it out. I really don't like it.

Yes, I remember that one. It was not easy, but we were lucky in figuring out enough of it the first turn attempts that we squeaked by on the second turn. It helped that I wasn't tipsy.

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We drew the 5-character code breaker puzzle at the end of our first run through the first scenario and had the same experience as yours Smoove. The 2nd time we played it we had a different map and a very different ending.

Right now, the biggest change in adding the figure and tile collections is that the pool of monsters is much greater. I've tapped through the first scenario a couple times to experiment and have seen lots of different monsters show up. The map layouts right now aren't that diverse. From posts on BGG and FFG forums:

Scenario 1 has 4 map configurations without any of the old stuff. add on 2 more with.Scenario 2 only has 1 map.Scenario 3 has 1 map without the old stuff and another with it.Scenario 4 only has 1 map.

They are from a bag of 25 Litko bases shipped Amazon Prime for $7. I tried pricing out larger bases for the mob and medium sized monsters, but the prices jump significantly. I founds some guy in Texas that has an eBay storefront and he sells them for a much cheaper price than Litko, but everything is bulk-order based and I'm not sure I need 25 mediums. Anyway, the smaller baggies of 25 will cover quite a few of the monsters and all of the investigators so IMHO it's $7 well spent.

The game has only been out a few months now, and variability in the maps can be added in via the app so I'm hopeful this is just the start of what will be a more robust system. It's certainly more story/scenario driven at the moment but with what's coming for the Descent and Imperial Assault apps I hope that will change too.

Played through the Rising Tide scenario last night (took about 4 to 4.5 hours if I'm remembering correctly) and we lost horrifically. I liked how it wasn't just an immediate series of fights (like the other two scenarios we played through) but instead an actual investigation with clues and story interactions with NPCs. It was definitely the closest to an actual PnP RPG experience I've had with the game. According to the app, I've now logged 14 hours with the game - zero problems or bugs. Still enjoying it, just wish we made better guesses at the the point we had a choice because we were wrong and I'm pretty sure that was the reason we all died.